crop "circle"

A crop "circle" is a geometric pattern, often very intricate and
complex, appearing in fields, usually wheat fields and usually in England. Most, if not
all, crop circles are probably due to pranksters. For example, Doug Bower and David Chorley
admit to hoaxing approximately 250 circles over many years.

Some believe that the crop designs are messages from alien spacecraft. Some maintain
that the aliens are trying to communicate with us using ancient Sumerian symbols or
symbolic representations of alien DNA. Those who engage in such serious
study and theorizing about crop circles are known as cerealogists
(after Ceres, the Roman goddess of agriculture and fertility) or
croppies.

Even scientifically minded people have been brought into this fray. They have wisely
avoided the thesis that aliens have been carving out messages in crop fields. But they
have stretched their imaginations to come up with theories of vortexes,
ball lightning, plasma, and other less
occult explanations involving natural forces such as wind, heat, or animals.
Some think the designs are clearly the work of the U.S. Air Force and the
RAF using a "military microwave cannon, piloted by computer," and a design
book.* However, when looking for an explanation of weird things we
should never omit from our checklist the possibility that the phenomenon we
are studying is a hoax.

Had crop circles existed in the thirteenth century, they would have been attributed to Satan, who was said to have been responsible for many weird
happenings as well as for many unweird things, such as the construction of Stonehenge and
Hadrian's wall between England and Scotland. It was believed by many that the ancients
could not possibly have accomplished such feats on their own. Today, Satan's power as an
explanation for weird or wondrous things has been usurped by aliens.